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Hancock School Committee Opens Conversation About Expansion
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
03:17AM / Tuesday, March 03, 2015
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A conceptual design for an expansion to Hancock Elementary School is seen on the left.

Principal Tracey Tierney, left, Superintendent Barbara Ripa, and School Committee Chairwoman Patty Bishop explain the reasoning for the addition.

Architect David Westall explains how Hancock Elementary might be expanded.

Hancock Elementary School's library shares space in the auditorium with the school's preschool program (behind the partition).


Hancock Elementary's four classrooms house the K-6 program. The School Committee is proposing an addition to provide more classroom space and bathrooms.
HANCOCK, Mass. — The School Committee on Monday explained its rationale for investigating a possible expansion to the elementary school and sought public feedback on the initiative.
 
"Long-term, we need more instructional space and a couple of other spaces as well," Superintendent Barbara Ripa said.
 
"Some of you are saying, 'When I was a kid, I was in that building and there were 85 kids and we all fit.' Well, education has changed. The kinds of programs and services we need to provide our students so they have a quality education, that's changed, too.
 
"So we need these spaces."
 
The School Committee established a building subcommittee to assess the current facility and look into whether the school could manage in the current space and, if not, what could be done to make the school more functional.
 
"Out of it came a proposal that we add on to the building in a very efficient, cost-effective addition, an addition where would have one more classroom — because that's what we're always short," Ripa said.
 
The school currently has four classrooms for the K-6 program. The tuition-based preschool uses a space carved out of the common area in the middle of the school.
 
That common area, which also is used for gross motor skills and to house the school's library, was the setting for Monday's meeting, at which architect David Westall showed preliminary conceptual drawings of what an expanded Hancock Elementary School might look like.
 
Westall showed a layout that would add 2,260 square feet with a "very preliminary cost estimate" of $550,000, not including engineering fees, legal fees and furniture.
 
Much of that cost would go toward solving the current school's issues with restrooms
 
"We need to redo our bathrooms," Ripa said. "They're not ADA accessible. That means if one of our kids happened to have an accident and broke a leg and showed up on crutches or in a wheelchair, they'd have a hard time using the bathrooms.
 
"And in this building, there is no adult bathroom. There's a bathroom we use, and it's attached to the health office. It's part of the health office. So if you're dealing with a sick child, you're having competition for that bathroom.
 
"And the state doesn't allow you to share a bathroom with kids. We make do, but you need proper bathrooms."
 
The School Committee spent $4,000 from its School Choice receipts to hire Westall to do the conceptual drawings — the first step in a long process that continued on Monday with the meeting to gauge residents' interest.
 
Most of the attendees did not reject the notion of expanding the school and several commented that the building's current size is a concern.
 
But the committee did hear some criticism for the process they used to reach a decision. A couple of audience members said the committee should have produced a full, written study of the elementary school's options before even taking the step of developing a concept for the expansion.
 
The chairman of the Board of Selectmen was one of those calling for more study, and he specifically argued that the School Committee needed to ask town meeting to form a building committee.
 
"If you find the study has merit and you need space, then you need a professional group to tell you what your alternatives are," Derby said. "You might the alternative to change the interior of the rooms. Your worst alternative would be to close the school.
 
"This should all be investigated before you spend $4,000 on an addition. I think you're putting the cart before the horse, and you'd know whether the town was behind you if you had started at the annual town meeting."
 
Another member of audience went a step further than Derby, suggesting that the town might want to keep school closure on the table and determine whether tuitioning children out or joining another school district makes sense.
 
That notion drew a reaction from Will Clark.
 
"The school shouldn't be the stepchild of our community," Clark said. "The school should be the reason people move to Hancock. People who are considering buying a home in the community probably stop by the school first to check it out.
 
"I believe it would have an impact on our home values if we got to the point where we said we don't care enough to have our own school and make sure it's the best school in Berkshire County."
 
Derby also challenged the School Committee about financing for the project.
 
"Are you planning on taxation?" he asked. "Have you applied for a grant?"
 
"We're here to see if there is interest in taking those next steps," Ripa replied.
 
"You can sell something easier if we're not paying for it," Derby said.
 
Before moving on to the regular business of its meeting, the School Committee indicated that it is willing to put more time into a written report for residents' consumption outlining the need for an expansion.
 
"We realize we have not done a full study, and that's a necessary next step," School Committee Chairwoman Patty Bishop said.
 
Later, during the meeting, the committee agreed to take that step.
 
"I think it's clear people want more information in writing about the process, the steps we took, the information we gathered, the conversations with the architect," Ripa said.
 
"Our board is strong, so we will work to persevere and work with [Derby] and work at town meeting," Bishop said.
 
In other business on Monday, Ripa reported to the committee the result of a inquiry she made to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education about Hancock Elementary's accountability level.
 
Hancock was classified as a Level 1 school as recently as 2011, but the last three years, it has been listed by DESE as having "insufficient data."
 
Erica Adametz of DESE sent Ripa an email explaining the change.
 
"Under our current accountability system, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education only assigns accountability and assistance levels (1-5) to schools that have tested 20 or more students on MCAS in each of the last four years," Adametz wrote.
 
"Please note that the change between 2011 and 2012 does not signify a decline in performance, but rather a change in our accountability measures and how we classify schools."
 
"We were never a Level 2 school," Ripa told the School Committee.
 
The School Committee also set a public hearing for its fiscal 2016 budget. The hearing will be held on Monday, April 6, at 6:30 p.m. The budget is essentially level funded, Ripa said, with one increase of $30,000 for special education based on anticipated increased need for the district.
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